The Rockefeller University Newswire

Leaf veins inspire a new model for distribution networks

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST

Following the straight and narrow may be good moral advice, but it�s not a great design principle for a distribution network. In new research, a team of biophysicists describe a complex netting of interconnected looping veins that evolution devised to distribute water in leaves. The work, which bucks decades of thinking, may compel engineers to revisit some common assumptions that have informed the building of many human-built distribution networks.

By tracking water molecules, physicists hope to unlock secrets of life

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST

Compared to any other liquid on Earth, water behaves in strange and unexpected ways, yet its unusual properties enable and protect life as we know it. By tracking individual water molecules in a �supercooled� state, scientists find what explains one of water�s most notable and life-saving features: its astounding capacity to resist gaining or losing heat.

Newly engineered enzyme is a powerful staph antibiotic

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 14:30:00 EST

In the past decade, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, has ushered in a new era in the fight between man and bug. By harnessing the power of nature�s own antibiotics, scientists have engineered an enzyme known as a lysin that not only kills MRSA in mice but also works synergistically with antibiotics that were once powerless against the formidable organism.

Brain arousal heightens sexual activity in male mice

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:45:00 EST

Ever since the dawn of time, teenage boys have been defined by their sexual urges. Stereotype or not, the same fate has now befallen male mice. In new research that harkens back to those awkward high school moments and uncomfortable coming-of-age memories, scientists now show that male mice genetically selected for high levels of nervous energy act like sex-crazed teenage boys: highly motivated, but awkward and inefficient.

Researchers track evolution and spread of drug-resistant bacteria across hospitals and continents

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:45:00 EST

Using high resolution genome sequencing, scientists have tracked a deadly strain of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as it traveled between South America, Europe and Southeast Asia. The new technique provides an unprecedented view of how MRSA evolved over decades and across entire continents, as well as on the short timescale of a few weeks within a hospital in Thailand.

First evidence that the brain�s native dendritic cells can muster an immune response

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:00:00 EST

Since their initial discovery in 1973, dendritic cells, the sentinels of the immune system, have turned up in a number of places other than the immune organs. They stand guard in the heart, for instance, and in 2008, the first population native to the brain was identified. New research shows that dendritic cells are not only present in the brain, but active, too. They confront foreign substances and seem to form a barrier between healthy and stricken brain tissue following a stroke.

Clinical trial to explore link between vitamin D and cholesterol

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:45:00 EST

An unusual finding in previous studies of vitamin D-deficient patients has prompted a new clinical study at The Rockefeller University Hospital. Investigator Manish Ponda aims to discover if there is a causative relationship between vitamin D supplementation and elevated levels of small LDL cholesterol. The hospital is currently recruiting subjects for the study.

Loss of epigenetic regulators causes mental retardation

Fri, 8 Jan 2010 16:15:00 EST

New findings, published in recent issues of Neuron and Science, indicate that malfunction of a protein complex that normally suppresses gene activation causes mental retardation in mice and humans and may even play a role in promoting susceptibility to drug addiction.

Loosely coiled DNA helps trypanosomes make their escape

Fri, 8 Jan 2010 13:30:00 EST

Some animals use camouflage to outsmart their prey; others use mimicry or fake their own death. But Trypanosoma brucei, the wily parasite that causes African sleeping sickness, is the only organism we know of that can change its molecular identity on command to escape the grip of the human immune system. New research reveals a key discovery that has eluded scientists for decades: To avoid capture, trypanosomes must strategically uncoil their DNA.

DNA �barcoding� reveals 95 species of life in NYC homes, students show

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST

Armed with the latest high-tech DNA analysis techniques, two New York City high school students examined every nook and cranny of their homes and were astonished to discover a veritable zoo of 95 animal species surrounding them, in everything from fridges to furniture.

Genomic differences identified in common skin diseases

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST

If you have dry skin, wet it, if wet skin, dry it. This has been a general rule of dermatology for centuries, but scientists are working to develop more precise treatments for the dozen-plus inflammatory skin diseases that afflict people. New research details the fine genetic and immunological differences between two of the most common skin diseases, psoriasis and atopic eczema, presenting a new way to classify the disorders as well as possible novel therapeutics.

Scientists visualize how a vital hepatitis C virus protein moves along its nucleic acid substrate

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:30:00 EST

In a series of three snapshots that recapitulate the coordinated actions, scientists reveal how a protein essential for the replication of the hepatitis C virus moves along its nucleic acid substrate. The finding illustrates the nucleotide-dependent changes of interactions between the protein, known as NS3, and DNA, work that suggests some of the most feasible strategies to date to block the action of this largely unexplored drug target.

Titia de Lange awarded grant, named American Cancer Society Research Professor

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:45:00 EST

The head of Rockefeller University�s Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics has received a $400,000 grant from the American Cancer Society and has been named an American Cancer Society Research Professor. The five-year grant, which is effective January 1, 2010, will fund de Lange�s continuing research on telomeres, the strings of extra DNA that cap and protect the ends of chromosomes through numerous cycles of cell division.

Rockefeller University receives nearly $27 million in ARRA grants

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:15:00 EST

Investigators at The Rockefeller University have so far been awarded 41 federal grants and supplemental awards through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) � the so-called �stimulus� legislation passed by Congress last winter. Ranging in size from about $5,000 to nearly $4.6 million, the grants will fund new and ongoing projects in biomedical and clinical research and training.

Mutation leads to new and severe form of bacterial disease

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:15:00 EST

Everybody gets sick, but how sick you get is in your genes. New research now reveals a mutation on a gene that makes children susceptible to a severe form of mycobacterial disease. The work not only supports a controversial idea that certain genes evolved to combat specific bacteria but also reveals new mechanistic details of how the immune system fights off one of the planet�s fiercest pathogens.

Bacterial protein mimics its host to disable a key enzyme

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:45:00 EST

Bacteria use all sorts of cunning to trick hosts into doing their bidding. One con in their bag of tricks: the molecular mimic. In this ruse, bacteria or their agents look for all purposes like some native molecule in a cell, but then do not behave accordingly. Working with H. pylori, the bacterium responsible for gastric ulcers and cancer, researchers have revealed one way bacteria pull this off, deciphering the structure of a piece of CagA, a bacterial protein that impersonates a human protein in order to disable a key enzyme.

New molecule identified in DNA damage response

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 11:15:00 EST

Evolution places the highest premium on reproduction, natural selection�s only standard for biological success. In the case of replicating cells, life spares no expense to ensure that the offspring is a faithful copy of the parent. Researchers have identified a new player in this elaborate system of quality control, a gene whose mutation can cause a rare but lethal disease.

Rockefeller postdoc wins GE & Science Prize

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:15:00 EST

Michael Crickmore has been named Grand Prize winner in the essay competition, which recognizes outstanding graduate students in molecular biology. Crickmore�s essay, titled �The Molecular Basis of Size Differences,� comes with $25,000 and publication in Science.

Elusive protein points to mechanism behind hearing loss

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:00:00 EST

A serendipitous discovery in zebra fish larvae born deaf has helped narrow down the function of an elusive protein necessary for hearing and balance. In addition to unveiling a potential target for therapy, the work suggests that hearing loss may arise from a faulty pathway that translates sound into electrical nerve impulses the brain can understand.

Rockefeller human embryonic stem cell lines now available through NIH registry

Wed, 2 Dec 2009 16:45:00 EST

Two human embryonic stem cell lines, derived using private funds, are among the first 13 human embryonic stem cell lines for use in NIH-funded research under the NIH Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research adopted in July 2009.